A Surprisingly Good Extra Curricular

Instagram photo by jamie250196

I've resigned myself that I was an accountant through and through.

Heck, that sounded ominous. I did not mean it like that. I really do love being an accountant. Now more so than ever. I say this because this career has opened up another door for me.

But first let me lay down the ground work....

I remember a few years back, my ex-boss and I were having a discussion about further studies and he suggested that I should probably aim to teach as an university professor someday (when I'm grey and old) because it suited my personality. Now I'm no teacher, not the "me" at that time anyway. I hated public speaking and my confidence level is not up to par. But our talk sort of stuck in my mind and I just tucked it away in my brain somewhere that if the opportunity comes, I might consider taking it. Someday.

So fast forward to a few years ahead. It started off when I answered a placed ad for a writer. Now before we all get too excited, I'm not talking about JK Rowling or George RR Martin kind of writing. Judging by the existence of this blog, I suppose you can see that I really do love writing (even though sometimes writing does not seem to love me back). Anyway, the position advertised was to become a content writer for a tuition provider. So I applied and was accepted to become a freelance one.

The story would've ended there if not for another opportunity popping up. Here's where the other door started opening. I was going about my business of writing bits and pieces here and there about accounting terms and technical knowledge when the tuition provider asked if I would interested in becoming an online tutor since I am well-versed with the course material anyway. Now, writing is one thing because I can hide in the cloak of papers and pens. But teaching is another.

The "talk" with my ex-boss came to mind. I debated a long time whether to express my interest or not but in the end, decided to send in a trial video of a 10-minute presentation. No harm in trying. I still hated public speaking at this point, and I was camera shy, but I managed to put some Powerpoint slides together. And so that was that.

Anyway, to make the long story short, I was selected to teach a course over one weekend. And 2 months down the line, I was given the assignment to do another course. And now....well, let's just say that I have quite a few sets of classes under my belt. Not bad for a tutor who's afraid to be in front of a class. Seems like my ex-boss was right. I do have a knack for this. And it seems like my part-time boss agrees.

I still get nervous and I still hate public speaking, but I'm starting to enjoy pushing myself to take on what I fear. This was one of the things I'd like to improve - to be a good public speaker. And so this divergent path of work is providing me with much needed practice in that front. Who knows? I may yet become an accounting professor one day. :-)